Rana Siddiqui Zaman/Asansol (West Bengal)

Slowly, even the smaller cities have come into the grip of new living. No muazzins to wake up the roza observers at Sehri during the holy month of Ramzan and no humble pandals on Eid Milan. Now, political parties do the needful, 

Apart from being woken up by the qafila (group) of malangs and young boys reciting Urdu sher-o shayri and naat (devotional stories/nazms in praise of Prophet Mohammad) at Sehri during Ramzan, another charm to the last nights of Ramzan used to the recitation of the whole Quran in just one night, in good old days, in smaller cities of U.P, Bihar, and East at Muslim populated areas.

Senior maulanas or hafiz-e-Quran (those who have memorized the Holy Book) would also make sure to offer shab-e-qadr prayers in the last ten days of Ramzan. These nights are considered to be most eventful for prayers when no faithful’s prayers are believed to go unanswered.  “Some five to six maulanas, used to divide reading of the whole Quran among themselves – each would read five to six paras and finish the whole Quran in one night, in some 5 hours, before sehri.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attending an Iftar Party at Hoogly

This used to be known as Sabina ki raat.  The mosques full of devotees, wouldn’t have an inch of space for the latecomer,” recalls Suhail Akhtar, a resident of Asansol, West Bengal’s Hutton Road area. Those who couldn't come listened to the recitation through the loudspeaker.

Interestingly, after the Ramzan, those who woke people up also erected a pandal at the Chelidanga area in Asansol which was not inhabited back then. The pandal served Eid delicacies like sewai, pheni and milk), and sherbat with some snacks. The pandal makers collected money from the locals, who happily doled out Rs. 20/- to 2000/- depending upon their capacity. The mounting of the pandal was an indicator of the hard work the people put in to wake up the devout and of 'sabab' (Good deeds which are rewarded by God) for the rozedars and donors - to latter for feeding the people on eid.

“The huge pandals were mostly visited by non-Muslims especially who didn’t have Muslim friends to be invited for eid feast at home.  Even the rich and local leaders of the area would greet to overlook the arrangements and make everyone feel special,” says Yusuf Zaman, a middle-aged man from Asansol.

With time changing and nuclear families on the rise, the custom of waking up the rozedards by the muazzins and malangs during Sehri, started losing its sheen.

The culture, the elderly of the areas also believe, ended as the political parties took over the pandal arrangements in a big way spending lakhs of rupees on it. This made the festival lose its local flavor.

Now, it is no longer an Eid-Milam fest but one for political networking in the name of Eid. The innocence and humane qualities of the pandals are gone, though from the humble serwai-sherbat, the varieties of eatables at the pandals have grown manifold. “Now, the pandal makers don’t have to work hard to wake people up and parade around them for ‘bakhshish’ (tip). They can eat delicacies at the new mammoth pandals hijacked by the local and political community.

The fact also goes that the entire month, someone would sing a naat and wake Muslims up and also disturb people of other religions. Those who had to wake up early for work/college felt harassed. So, as there is a restriction on high volumes in loudspeakers at mosques, now you wouldn’t hear a muezzin screaming to wake Muslims up.

Mobile phones have alarms to wake up people on time.  The new generation avoid fasting, so there are a lot of factors that have snatched the beauty of ‘small citiness’ especially during sehri in Ramzan

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However, a communication professional from Chelidanga, Asansol, says, “Those days the tolerance level was better. A subtle Muslim appeasement used to be there too, to keep the brotherhood between communities alive during communal tensions in the area which has almost equal percentage of Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Now political parties have hijacked the innocence, piety and genuineness of Eid gatherings."